Tax refunds

A tax refund or tax rebate is the money that you get back from HRMC if you paid too much in tax. By law, if you're travelling to temporary workplaces and paying to make your own way there, you could get a tax refund. On average, a 4-year tax refund claimed through RIFT amounts to £2,500 or £2,000 per year for people in the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS).

Tax returns

A tax return is how a taxpayer lets HMRC know their annual income, expenses and other personal circumstances. HMRC use it to calculate the tax you owe and claim tax allowances and tax reliefs you're entitled to. There are many reasons you may have to file a tax return, it's not just for the self-employed.

Advice

We’ve been helping people with the taxman since 1999. Our specialist teams work closely with HMRC to put the cash back in your pocket where it belongs. You can be sure that we know the rules inside out. Get in touch if you need help, it's what we're here for.

Our prices

We make our prices as simple as possible so that you don't find yourself with any unexpected bills for "hidden extras". All aftercare is included and any refund you get is covered by our RIFT Guarantee. There are no upfront charges. We'll handle everything with HMRC for you and even remind you when it's time to claim again next year.

About us

The RIFT Group is a family business based in Kent, founded by Jan Post in 1999. We're specialists in tax refunds and tax returns and we're the only company in our field to have been awarded the Institute of Customer Service "ServiceMark" for excellence in customer service. Get in touch to see how we can help you today.

How does an emergency tax code affect me?

When you leave a job, your employer should give you a P45. Your P45 shows how much you've earned and how much tax you've paid so far in the current tax year. It also gives your tax code, which your new employer will need. If you don't get a P45, your new employer will have to use an emergency tax code until they can find out what tax code you should be on.

An emergency code assumes that you are only entitled to the basic personal allowance. It does not take into account any other tax code allowances and tax code reductions and reliefs you may be entitled to, such as blind person’s allowance. So the emergency tax code for 2016/17 is 1100L, which is actually the same as the normal code for the vast majority of people.

Emergency tax codes are only ever meant to be temporary. If you're on one and don't know why, contact RIFT for help.

The main problem if you find you’re on an emergency tax code is that your wages may get taxed at 50%. It will never be more than this as there is a rule that in any one month the amount collected under PAYE cannot exceed 50% of the total pay – but that’s not much consolation as most people can’t afford to miss half their take home pay. This happens because normally PAYE is worked out on what’s called a “cumulative basis”. This means that when your employer takes the tax away from your wages they take into account:

all the tax you have paid in the tax year to date,

what amount of your salary falls under each tax bracket,

any personal allowances you are due

Under emergency tax codes your employer does not have this information so you pay tax on everything with no allowances and as if you have paid no tax this year.

Tax codes really aren't as scary or complicated as they often seem. You just have to keep an eye on yours, and be prepared to take action if it changes. If you're with RIFT, of course, we'll take care of that for you, and fix it if the taxman gets it wrong.

Whatever tax code questions you've got, give RIFT Refunds a call or email us for the best tax advice in the business. In the meantime why not see if you are a due a tax rebate with our simple test below.

I've got a BR tax code. What does this mean?

A BR tax code just means that all the income the code refers to is being taxed at the basic rate of 20%. You'll usually only get a BR code if your employer doesn't have all the details needed to work out your proper one.

The main problem with a BR code is that you aren't getting your tax-free personal allowance on this income. This doesn't mean that you're paying the wrong amount of tax, of course. For instance, if you've got 2 jobs, only your "main" one will usually have the allowance applied to it. Even so, if you see a BR in your tax code and don't know why, talk to RIFT. We'll let you know what's happened, and fix it if it's wrong. If you're paying more tax than you should, we'll help you claw it back from HMRC.

Why do I have a BR tax code?

BR tax codes crop up in a few circumstances. Usually, it just means that your employer doesn't have enough information to give you anything else. For instance, this can happen if you haven't given them a P45 or P46 before starting work. The same thing can happen if you're moving from being self-employed to a PAYE job.

BR Tax Code

Is a BR Code always wrong?

Not necessarily. The BR code really means that you aren't getting your tax-free personal allowance on that income. If you've got more than one job, you only get the allowance on one of them. Keep in mind that, if your personal allowance is being applied to a low-paid job, you might not get the full benefit of it. In that case, you should talk to RIFT about getting it transferred to your other income.

DO YOU QUALIFY FOR A TAX REFUND FROM HMRC?

Still got tax code questions? Speak to RIFT

Whatever tax code questions you've got, give RIFT Refunds a call or email us for the best tax advice in the business. After all we've been around since 1999 so we know what we're talking about.

If you're wondering whether you're due a tax refund why not find out for sure? Answer a few quick questions on your employment status and work expenses and within seconds we'll let you know if you have a tax rebate claim that could be worth up to £2,500.

Our guarantee means you'll never lose a penny

When you claim your tax rebate with RIFT, our unique RIFT Guarantee means that you don't have to worry about the taxman reclaiming any of your money. So long as you give us fill and accurate information, if HMRC disagrees with the amount that we've claimed and ask for the money back, we'll pay it. It won't cost you a penny.

How to get an emergency tax refund

It's important to know how to claim back emergency tax if you ever find yourself with a temporary tax code. If you're employed PAYE, one way to do this is to give a P45 form to your employer. You can usually get one of these from your previous job. In some cases, you may have to claim your emergency tax refund directly from HMRC.

Working Out Tax

How is my tax bill worked out?

For most employees (PAYE) the tax you pay each month is worked out by:

Looking at your total annual salary

Calculating how much is left to pay tax on above your personal allowance

Seeing which tax band applies to that.

To even things out over the year your personal tax free allowance is spread evenly throughout the year. This means you get 1/12 (if you are paid monthly) or 1/52 (if you are paid weekly) of your personal allowance tax free in your pay packet.